Rohan Bopanna’s Australian Open title defence ends in first round

India’s top men’s doubles player Rohan Bopanna and his Colombian partner Nicolas Barrientos suffered a first-round exit at the Australian Open 2025, falling to Spain’s Pedro Martinez and Jaume Munar at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Seeded 14th at the season-opening Grand Slam, Bopanna and Barrientos went down 7-5, 7(7)-5(5) against their unseeded opponents in one hour and 54 minutes.

Bopanna, 44, and Barrientos, 37, started the match positively. They had an early breakpoint opportunity in the fourth game and again pressured Martinez and Munar in the eighth but failed to convert.

Barrientos faced trouble on serve in the 11th game and despite saving five breakpoints, the pair could not prevent Martinez and Munar from seizing the advantage.

Bopanna started the second set by holding his serve to love but the Indian tennis player and his partner squandered two breakpoint chances in the sixth game.

Barrientos was broken in the seventh game but Bopanna and Barrientos responded with a timely break in the 10th game to force the tiebreaker.

Leading 4-1 and later 5-3 in the tiebreaker, Bopanna and Barrientos let the advantage slip as Martinez and Munar claimed the final four points to secure victory.

Last year, Rohan Bopanna, at 43 years and nine months, became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title in the Open Era of tennis when he won the men’s doubles title with Matthew Ebden. The duo split at the end of 2024.

Indian hopes in the doubles draw continue on Wednesday. Yuki Bhambri pairs with France’s Albano Olivetti, N Sriram Balaji joins forces with Mexico’s Miguel Ángel Reyes-Varela and Rithvik Bollipalli teams up with the USA’s Ryan Seggerman.

In singles, Sumit Nagal exited in the first round after a loss to Czechia’s Tomas Machac. No Indian women qualified for the Australian Open this year.

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